chance at the grand prize of $5,000. for more details, go to stude ntcam.org. >> : would pose the most famous of the stars lee the capital to help the government -- -- hollywood's most famous movie tors lead the capital ttol help the government lead the war effort. >> what we want to look at is how popular culture prevented the war. how was the were presented in movies from the 1940's. how was it presented in comic books, in athletic events in the 1930's an 1940's. how was it presented in tin pan alley, in music? >> popular culture and world war

ii with randy roberts. tonight at 8:00 and 10:00 eastern on c-span3. >> next, andrew cuomo in his annual state of the state address. he spoke from albany for about an hour and 15 minutes.

>> and thank you. thank you very much. happy new year, new york. first, let me acknowledge and thank the greatest part or a governor could ever have, lt. governor bob duffy -- partner a governor could ever have, lt. governor bob duffy. the question about, can one person make a difference, he has made a tremendous difference all across the state. let's give him another round of applause. [applause] to the elected and legislative to have been introducede before -- [applause]

attorney general eric schneiderman, thank you for being here. senators, pleasure to be with you. i want to thank them for their leadership. the legislative accomplishments to really turn this state around. they were difficult and challenging because it went to the real heart of the issues. at this time i would ask the

assembly and senate to stand so you can be recognized for your great work. [applause] members of the court, welcome to all of you. [applause] the capital looks a little bit different than it did over the past few years. the renovation has been complete. it was accelerated. it was extended. the building has been refurbished. it's skylights are open. it is in better shape than it has been in many, many years. [applause]

i remember the first time i walked into the capital, when i was a young fellow, how i was awed and overwhelmed by the beauty and majesty of the building. somewhere along the way, it lost that luster. both physically and symbolically. we had a great team that worked tirelessly to put it together. this year, as we all know, we have had more than our share of tragedies. from webster to hurricane

center. we saw new york at its worst. but we also saw new york at its best. you saw a. of an unparalleled -- period of unparalleled heroism, leading with our first responders. police officers, fire officers, new york state police who are here today. we ask them to stand, please stand so we can thank you. [applause] throughout the hurricane, whether it is hurricane sandy or irene, if you ask any community in any elected official, any citizen in any community who or

what was the core of the rescue operation, what was the core of the volunteer operation, they will say nine times out of 10, the national guard. the national guard was our main weapon, our main asset in providing recovery for communities all across this state. we're blessed with great young men and women who believe in this state deeply, believe in this service, a great leader in general murphy there. we asking to stand. [applause] through these chris sis, government work, new york state government worked, the agent heads deserve credit, the people who drive the trucks

deserve credit t people who drive the heavy equipment deserve credit, let's give the state workers a round of applause for their great work. [applause] you also had some extraordinary leadership by the local elected officials who were in the hardest hit area especially during hurricane sandy and i would ask you to join me now in giving a special thank you to truly heroic and accomplished leadership by mayor michael bloomberg, county executives, please stand so we can recognize you. [applause] and reverend mullings who gave us the invocation and had a

church in the middle of the rockaways told you half the story. the reverend to me epitomizes what citizens did all across this state. they took the church and removed the pughs and removed the art facts and turned it into an emergency shelter for state workers and local workers for the fema workers to work out of the church. and i remember speaking to the reverend about it and he said what is a better use for a church during a storm when people need -- are in need than to literally turn it into a shelter. it was right and it was true but it was hard to do. he was there 24 hours a day 7 days a week. he was the moral support for the community. he represent it is best leadership of new yorkers.

i'd ask him to stand so we can give him a round of applause. [applause] >> i was at the reverend's church so many times i thought i should put money in the plate. i oh you reverend. despite all of these efforts, despite all of the efforts of the first responders t police, the fire, the national guard t heroism of citizens, we still lost lives during hurricane sandy. we lost 60 of our brothers and sisters who were new yorkers at the damage of the storm and i would ask us now to give them a moment of silence.

thank you. the past few weeks and few months have been a blizzard of emotion, incidents from the unimaginable to the unforgettable from acts of terrorism to heroism from cause for despair to celebration. it's hard to get your bearings in the midst of all of it. -- cowardism to herosim from cause for despair to celebration. it's hard to get your bearings in the midst of all of it. let's take a step back, two years ago in this room when we did the state of the state we said the state was at a cross roads and the state needed to charter new course and begin a new journey if it was going to

have a different future. we said we had to restore the public trust and renew the dream. we had to reverse decades of decline in economic communities all across this state and we had to start a new york come back. we set our core elements were to attract jobs and create a world class education system, establish fiscal integrity and discipline and restore new york as the progressive capitol of the nation once again. well, my friends, we are on our way. [applause] governor al smith liked to say let's look at the record. well, let's look at the record. gone is the obstructionist state bureaucratic culture replaced with a new entrepreneurial government. gone is the tax mentality replaced with a property tax cap and the lowest middle class tax rate in 58 years. [applause] >> gone is the anti-business mentality replaced with

regional collaboratives in a new partnership that the working -- the record narrowly well. -- that is working extraodinarily well. gone is the political gridlock replaced with the government that puts politics aside, remembers why they are here, puts the people first and make it is government work for the people of the state once again. we set out to bridge a divide. we needed to bridge a divide from yesterday to tomorrow, from what was to what can be. from cynicism to trust, from gridlock to cooperation to make the government work. and we are literally and metaphorically and we are

building a new bridge, it is big, it is bold, it is beautiful together we did it in one year when they talked about it for ten and that is what making government work is all about, producing for the people of this state and that's what we're doing. now i would like to be able to say our job is done and it's over. but we have more to do. as a matter of fact, we have much more to do. the national economy is better than it was but it's not driving is a continuing responsibility, it doesn't end. up state new york needs more investment and more assistance, our children are not being educated to the fullest. women are not treated equally and fairly by this seat. --by the society.

yes it's an overwhelming burden but that's why we're here. our accomplishments over the past two years say one thing that's clear. we can defy the odds and deny the naysayers we've done it for two years. we can accomplish anything we want when we work together. [applause] so, let us begin. 1-2 punch, economic development is what drives this space. it must expand our new york open for business efforts that are working well, our efforts

which brought integrity to the state which after years of chaos, after years of humiliation, we have passed responsible budgets and we have passed them on time and we must do it again. we made a profound pledge to the new new york, a pledge that resonated across the country and that pledge was no new taxes and that signaled that it was a new day in new york and we must do it again, no new taxes in the new new york. this is the foundation of our economic development efforts.

we have great coach fairs that have given tremendous time across the state. -- co-chairs that have given tremendous time across the state. i would ask them to stand today said -- so that they can be recognize that we can show our appreciation. [applause] the economic challenge that continues is the transfer from academia to commercialization. this is still the area where new york has been led. california is first in total research spent but new york only gets 4% of the nation's venture capital while california gets 47%. we are doing the research, we develop the ideas, we have the academic institutions, we are not making a transference to commercialization. that is what we have to fix and

that is what we have to fill. we proposed creating new innovation hotspots. innovation hot spot will be a tax-free zone. no business, real property or sales tax. if a business states in that zone, they will pay no tax. that will provide one-stop funding and services, legal services, accounting services, all of the services they need to grow their business. we also want the state to be in a better position. we want to pick five winners this year and five winners next year for a total of 10. we need to change the culture

in order to encourage the transfer of ideas across the board. you want to set up a new network. -- we want to set up a new network. this it will be based on a high the successful model from san diego which has done great things for that city and that region. the network will be a collaboration between venture capitalists and higher education's across commercialization. it will also inform us as to what regulations are counterproductive. an initial innovation members will be jim simons, davis gordon, and -- let's give them a round of applause. [applause] we must continue to reduce the cost of doing business in the new york. we must reduce the crushing

burden of unemployment insurance and workers' comp. you will hear this from almost every businessman in new york. [applause] we propose a reform of the workers' comp program that would streamline the system. this is by ending borrowing to pay benefits for the first time in state history. this will reduce the cost of business while also increasing the benefits for workers for the first time since 1999 and it will save $1.3 billion to business, just think about that. the economy of tomorrow is the clean tech of tomorrow. we all know it, it is a foot race. we want to create the new york

green bay, which is another $1 billion bank to leverage public dollars with private sector match money to spur the clean economy. [applause] we want to extend the new york sun solar jobs program at $150 million annually for 10 years to increase solar panel installations. it is good for the environment, it is good for the economy. we want to create the charge new york program. this is the future, my friends, and we want to invest in an electric car network to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, installing a state wide network of charges stations and have a new york to be one of the four runners in this race all across the country. we want to attract a national start to lead our efforts.

we want to introduce you to the former senior adviser to the u.s. secretary of energy, steven chu. he is leaving washington, he is coming to new york. he is going to lead our efforts. welcome aboard. [applause] one of our other challenges is to have a ready work force. our work force training is still from a different era. we have talked about this for many years but we have not made enough progress.

we must match and train our work force for the jobs of today and tomorrow. we must change and we imagine the way suny and cuny systems work. we need a job linkage program, jobs are coming back from overseas. that is the good news. what the employers found out was that more than low-paid workers, employers needed high skilled labor. they learned that lesson. they're coming back and we see them coming back to new york. there are 212,000 unfilled jobs in new york. it will work with employers to identify the jobs, to find this

skill set that that job needs, trained to that skill set and place the person in that job. [applause] we want to base that the state funding of colleges on it and paid for performance model, colleges will be getting paid for the placement of students as opposed to just the training of students. this has worked well. we have had several models that of work across the country. with all of this, we need an additional focus on upstate new york. when you look at the job stated in your, it is sad a struggling but new york city, 16 in the nation and 9%.

the nation's growth led upstate new york's growth. that is just unacceptable. we have implemented a number of programs to revitalize upstate. this has been a party for two years. -- priority for the past two years. the regional economic development council, the majority of which is upstate new york. agriculture initiatives have made a difference. today's new initiatives will also work for upstate new york. the hot spots, the workman's comp that we talked about, the training linkages tend to want to do even more. nkages, but we plan to do even more.

apparently, there is no really marketing plan for upstate new york. we will start to market new york which will be a multifaceted plan to bolster upstate growth. we will have a plan around products, wine, beer. we will start a taste of new york program which will aggressively marketed these products. they are excited to be here, they are expanding, the have developed a good relationship with them. we will create a duty-free stores all across the nation to promote -- across the state to promote new york grown. next year, they will be expanding into a national chain. [applause] second, we will market regional attractions. currently, what the state does is we find county tourism

boards, which is caused counties to compete with one another. we want county's being part of regions in developing regional synergy. so, we will have a competition among regions with to actually bring these together to come up with a coordinated marketing plan to develop and market those assets and those regions. we have the assets. we just need the marketing from niagara falls to the finger lakes to the thousand islands, to hudson valley. we have at all. we will have marketing campaigns around special events n to attract special events. our challenge is to introduce people to the region of upstate new york.

we need to make the introduction. we now have great special events all across upstate new york. this is the balloon festival. it is magnificent. [applause] for example, new york has some of the best white water rafting in the nation. i bet you did not even know that. this year, we are going to sponsor a national white water rafting competition.

we are going for this competition. officials, they must be an evenly divided. rafters must the government employees for at least six months and they must have been hired before today. all rafters must paddle, no freeloaders. this is not government. [laughter]

identical rafts and identical equipment will be divided amongst the team. there will be a number of challenges. the first challenge will be the executive to the assembly challenge. the assembly speaker, avid outdoorsman, a mountaineer, will be the captain of the assembly raft, if he so chooses. the next challenge will be the senate challenge with the co- leaders. [laughter] you have to paddle the same way, guys. [applause] the new york city challenge, we have the ss bloomberg. mayor bloomberg always looks good in what he is doing. [laughter] i will have my own team.

i will have an identical raft that is identical in all ways except the state police that because i respond to so many emergencies. now, mine has an engine. that is the challenge. it is scheduled for this year. [applause] i hope the challenge is accepted. i hope that we are all successful. another major potential is to bring people to upstate new york. some people say, new york is not in the casino business, we are in the -- i would say those people are in a different state

called the state of denial. [laughter] nobody knows that we're not in the casino business, especially the casinos, if you look at how the casinos advertise, and what they say they are, what it says on television, what it says inside of the casino, we are in the casino business. we may technically call it the rasino business, we might not get the right revenues, but we have back into the casino business through the name of the rasino business. we have 17 facilities operating, holding themselves out as casinos. we stay in this town and say, they are wrong. they are really rasinos. no, they are operating as

casinos. 39 close to the border of new york. there are now 8.2 million residents of new york state. there are 50 million tourists of new york city every year. a major challenge is to get that traffic to upstate new york. i believe casinos in upstate new york would be a great magnet to bring to new york city traffic up. they go to new jersey, they go to connecticut, why don't we bring them to upstate new york. [applause]

we propose the casino plan to go to upstate new york. the plan is to bring it downstate new yorkers to upstate. if you put a casino in new york city, they will go to the new york city casino. the people coming in from out of town will go to the new york city casino. we want them going upstate and using this as a magnet to go up state. we propose a revenue split of the funds for education, 10% for local taxes, we believe the local government and the committees should have a right to support or not support and that should be a factor in this election of the facility of the location. we believe that we should have

the local competition. -- hold a national competition. we should have the best casino companies in the world should come to compete. we should keep the politics out of the decision and leave it to the gaming commission. this would require a november referendum. in terms of education, the governor said the standard of education should be elevated to the highest of the chief of our responsibilities. it is true today. when it comes to education, i say two words, more and better. we need more learning time in this country, not just in this state. the secretary has put his finger on this a long time ago. we're still providing education as if we were an agrarian economy and an agrarian society and we needed the children home to work the fields.

the advantages of more education is clear. when you look internationally, countries that are beating us educate their children more. just more days of education. 200 for korea, 190 for canada, 179 for the u.s. we need more learning times if we are really serious about education. [applause] option a is longer days. option b, to have a lognenger

year. less summer vacation or at fewer vacations during the year. if you could do a combination of both. -- or you could do a combination of both. these are big decisions, and the impact families, the impact neighborhoods. there will be different opinions on these options. our proposal that the state makes an option for every school district in this state if they want to opt in and how they want to opt in, long a day, lager your combinations. -- longer year, conbination. it is up to them. if they do it, the state would pay 100% of the additional costs to give them an incentive to actually do it. [applause] we need more early education. every expert will tell you that

early education makes a difference and it makes a difference for life, the statistics are overwhelming. early education, children who deserve this on math. -- do better on math. 20% better on english. 20% or more likely to graduate from high school. 32% are less likely to be arrested as a juvenile. we should provide a real pre-k for all of our children. [applause] currently, we have universal pre-k but it is only provided by 67% of the school district's. on average, they only offered to and a half hours per day. -- offer two and a half hours per day.

we will expand the program to full pay pre-k five hours and we will start with students and the lowest well to school districts. -- lowest wealth school districts. let's do it today. [applause] we need better teachers. teaching is one of the most important professions in society. we must attract and incentivize the best to become teachers. we need to overhaul the teacher training process, increase admissions standards. we should implement a bar exam type test that every teacher takes and must pass before we put them in a classroom to seek our students. -- teach our students. we have been working to change the culture and education and create a performance culture. first you need an evaluation mechanism. you need to know what is working, what teachers are

working, what teachers are not working. incentivize the teachers that are and help the teachers that are it. -- aren't. we started last year, the teacher evaluation system after years and years and years of dallying and opposition and lack of progress, we said last year, we agreed on an evaluation system. we said to the school districts across the state that we want you to adopt it and we want you to adopted by the end of the year. if you don't, you will not get the increase in state funding that we promised in the budget. well, my friends, the 4% agreement worked. 99% of the school districts have submitted a teacher of valuation test already ahead of the deadline. congratulations. [applause] we want to keep it going.

more than 90% of the plants that have come in only last for more than one year. we want to keep the model. you have to continue the evaluation process. second, we must pay for performance and incentivize high-performing teachers. if you work harder and you do better and your students do better, you will do better and you will have a higher reward. we propose a program where high performing master teachers will receive $50,000 in supplemental income annually for four years and they will then become mentors and teachers for other teachers. if you want teachers to do better, paid teachers and incentivize teachers to do better. not every teacher gets paid the same, no matter what happens. [applause] education in distressed communities is a totally different exercise in my opinion.

the school in a poor district is not just the school. a school and the wealthy district has one set of needs. a school and a poor district has a different set of needs. we need to create community schools in distressed communities. those community schools become the hub of all of the services the child and family needs to survive. it is not just providing an education, it is about health care, nutrition, family counseling, a medical clinic. put it all in that school and call it what it is, these are distressed communities. these are high need pupils. let's get them the services they need. there are all kinds of successful models to follow. our new york suny 2020 is a success.

we want to expand it to apply to the cuny and have a new york cuny 2020 this year. [applause] well education and economic opportunity are the engines, there is more to new york. there is a social compact because we are a community based on progressive principles. we must remain that progressive capital of the nation. it is about principles, is about fairness, is about quality, is about decency. teddy roosevelt, no man can be a good citizen unless he has a wage more than sufficient to cover the bare cost of living. minimum wage is on livable, it is only $14,616. the annual cost of gasoline is a $1,200. the annual cost of electricity

is $1,300. the annual cost of auto insurance is $1,400. the annual cost of auto insurance is $1,000. the annual cost of child care is $10,000. the annual cost of housing is $15,000 on a minimum wage of $14,000. my friends, it does not add up. [applause] 19 other states have raised the minimum wage and we propose raising the minimum wage to $8.75 an hour, it is long overdue, we should have done it last year. let's do it this year. [applause] we are one new york and as one new york, we will not tolerate discrimination.

there is a challenge posed by the stop and frisk police policies. roughly, 50,000 arrests in new york city for marijuana possession, more than any other potion. -- possession. of those 50,000 arrests, 82% are black and hispanic. of the 82% that are black and hispanic, 69% are under the age of 30 years old. these are young, predominately black and hispanic males. these arrests stigmatize, they criminalize, and they create a permanent record. it is not fair, it is not right, and it must end and it must end now. [applause]

the problem is the disconnect because marijuana on a person is a violence, marijuana in public view is a misdemeanor. -- violation, marijuana in public view is a misdemeanor. there must be parody, decriminalize the public view with 15 grams or less so there is fairness the system and we stop stigmatizing these young people, making it harder to get a job, making it harder to get into school, making it harder to turn their lives around at a very young age. we need to assure fairness in the justice system. the problem is eyewitness identification contribute to about 75% the wrongful convictions overturned by d.n.a. evidence.

remember, this is not a numbers game for a prosecutor. it is not the more convictions the better. a wrongful conviction protects no one. you are still innocent until proven guilty in this system and let's make the system remembers that and the system provides that. [applause] we propose innocence protection in the justice system. we propose blind eye witnesses photos of i.d.'s. this will give us more certainty that the convictions we obtain are actually fair and justified. [applause] i've been working in the area of

affordable housing all my life. i started when i was in my 20's and i would like to say we actually completed the task. the truth is the exact opposite. new york has a terrible affordable housing need that has gone unaddressed for too long. new york state is going to step into the affordable housing program business with a $1 billion program to produce or preserve over 4,000 units over the next five years. -- 14,000 units over the next five years. [applause] new york state is the equality capital of the nation but we have more to do. as you heard, not everyone has reached full equality in our society. >> these two babies were born in the same hospital at the same time. they will go home to loving families and go to the same school and get the same degree.

their lives will be different. one will earn $11,000 less per year and $500,000 less in the lifetime. -- over a lifetime. one is five times likely to be sexually harassed. one is twice as likely to be a single parent living in poverty. why? because one is a girl. it's not right, it's not fair. it is time for women's equality act. [applause] >> we passed marriage equality and let's make history again and pass a woman's equality act in the state of new york. [applause]

women's equality act would have a 10-point agenda. shatter the glass ceiling by passing a equal pay law. number two, have zero tolerance for sexual harassment in the workplace, period. number three, strengthen employment lending and credit discrimination laws. number four, strengthen human trafficking laws. number five, end family status discrimination.

number six, prevent landlords from denying housing based on the source of funds. number seven, stop housing discrimination for victims of the domestic violence. number eight, stop pregnancy discrimination once and for all. number nine, protect women from domestic violence. number 10, protect a woman's freedom of choice and enact the reproductive health act because it is her body, it is her choice. because it is her body it's her choice. [applause] because it's her body it's her choice. [applause] i have been blessed with three

daughters. many of you know them, as a matter of fact my parents blessed with 14 grandchildren, 13 are girls. so we have been significantly blessed with women. so we feel a special obligation. maybe it is a man's world but it is not a man's world in new york, not anymore. we're going to pass this women's equality act we're going to change the life for my daughters, your daughter, your sisters, your wife, and your significant other and every person in this room. every person in this room. [applause] we're going to do it this year. [applause] the department of public safety, gun violence, has been

on a rampage as we know firsthand and we know painfully. we must stop the madness, my friends. in one word it is just enough. it has been enough. [applause] we need a gun policy in this state that is reasonable, balanced, measured, we respect hunters and sportsman. this is not taking away people's guns. i own a gun, i own a shotgun, i've hunted, i've shot. that is not what this is about. it is about ending the unnecessary risk of high- capacity assault rifles. that is what this is about.

[applause] we have a seven-point agenda. number one, the toughest assault weapon ban in the nation, period. number two, close the private sale loophole by requiring background checks. number three, ban high-capacity magazines. number four, enact tougher penalties for illegal gun use. number five, keep guns from people who are mentally ill. number six, ban direct internet sales of ammunition in new york. number seven, create a check on all ammunition purchases. [applause] new york state led the way on guns once before. it was sullivan's law of 1911

which was the first in the nation gun control law. it required a permit for the position of a handgun. -- possession of a new york led the way then, let's pass safe and legal legislation and lead the way again in saving lives. [applause] when it comes to government reform we all believe in government otherwise we would not be in this room today. for government to be effective we have to be trusted. the more we're trusted the more effective we are. it all about the relationship we have with the citizens of this state. we must end the campaign to finance reform. new york currently has the highest contribution limits among all states, third lowest rate of participation.

i want to propose the disclose new york plan which is simple. it is the nation's most aggressive disclosure law, period. what it says is disclose all political and lobbying contributions within 48 hours electronically, period. right now -- right now the disclosure law says you can disclose every six months, sometimes a year, sometimes never. we would apply this to all political and lobbying organizations, political committee, political party, any contribution within 48 hours is disclosed over $500. there is nothing like it in the country. implement a public finance system based on new york city. it works well in new york city, it will work well in new york

state. we need to lower the contribution limits for all offices political parties, house keeping accounts because the limits are too high. government reform also has to be brought to local governments. which like the state are facing difficult financial difficulties. we propose setting up the financial restructuring system prom. it will be a joint effort joint task force. to help work that locality through its financial problems. there is no one size fits all. i'm looking at a number of cities and they are all in different situations. some have too much debt, some

have high expenses, some have short-term cash needs. let's bring them in individually, if they are in financial distress, we will sit with them, come up with a restructuring plan that makes sense and we'll work with them on the restructuring plan. [applause] responding to the crisis, we have to do everything we've outlined above. but, we also have the added responsibility of needing to address hurricane sandy. let's start by learning what has happened. we temp paneled four commissions right after the hurricane to look at the varies aspects of the storm and lessons learned. they did extraordinary work and i ask us to give them a round of applause now and recognize the chairman who worked very hard.

[applause] first thing we have to learn is to accept the fact, i believe it is a fact, that climate change is real. it is denial to say this is -- each of these situations is a once in a lifetime. there is a 100 year flood every two years now. it is inarguably that the sea is warmer and there is a changing weather pattern. the time to act is now. we must lower the greenhouse gas emission cap and let's make a real difference on climate change by reducing the co2 cap. we must also increase the local renewable power sources. also increase alternative power, generate electricity which will reduce the reliance on the large power plants.

we must understand the needs of coastal communities because they pose special challenges and many of them are man-made. let's take a look at lower manhattan. this was lower manhattan in 1609. this is lower manhattan now. all man-made filled areas. this is lower manhattan with the sandy storm surge. you can see that the man-made areas are the vulnerable areas to the storm surge. it is the way they are filled, it is the way they were constructed. we propose to recreate new

york's smart home program. instead of just rebuilding a home today that we may rebuild again two years from now, three years from now, four years from now. we built it back once but we built it back once right and we mitigate for the environmental damage and disaster. i would rather pay more and put a house on piles today than rebuild that house. there are some places that people may choose not to build back. i've talked to homeowner who is have dealt with serious floods,

flee, four, five times. many of them are saying i don't want to do it again. i would rather buy out the parcel and move on. there were some parcels that mother nature owns. she might only visit once every few years but she owns the parcel. when she comes to visit, she visits. we want to run a program that will provide the funds that will buyout those homeowners who don't want to rebuild and they want to move to higher ground and that would be smart. we must harden our infrastructure, we must harden the new york city subway system. new york is a marvel because how high it builds. manhattan is a march val because how deep it builds. parts of manhattan are a 15 stories deep with infrastructure, subways, water tunnels, etc. you can't allow those a 15 floors below to flood. it would dehabilitate the city for a long time.

we need to close tunnels, roll down doors, so the city does not flood. the technology is there, it is expensive but necessary. we must harden our airports. we can't close the airports every time there is a storm. we need to put in pumps, high gates, etc. we saw the chaos that the fuel system caused. that was the reduction of supply for a day and a half. that's all that was. a day and a half break in supply caused weeks of chaos. we have to have a program that requires gasoline stations that

are strategically located to have backup generators and the state should have a fuel reserve to protect new yorkers short term in case of a fuel reduction. [applause] we must hardened our utilities and get ready for the next storm and have a p.f.c. that requires utilities to come up with a real plan. we need to redesign our power system. it said "real regulatory enforcement teeth into the public force commission which has been too long been a toothless tiger." when it comes to the long island power authority it has never worked, it never will, it is time to abolish that, period.

they are all from queens, those people. we want to prioritize the long island service which will be regulated by a p.f.c. and we want to do it in a way that protects the rate payers and freezes the rate for a period of a year. there will be no increase for the payer, there will be a better provider. we want to establish a world- class emergency response net work. we'll have a uniformed training system and protocols. we want all emergency personnel in this state to receive the same training so we all have the same protocols, we all have the same understanding and there is no communication issues in the middle of a crisis. we want the state to have a certification program where it

certifies emergency workers who went through this course. we want the state to establish a stockpile. so next crisis we have what we need, we have the generators, the water supply, we have the meals and we don't have to worry about trying to locate them in the middle of the crisis. we want to capitalize in the new york spirit. we want to read a statewide volunteer core. it will people all across the state that will receive light training and will be available to volunteer if a disaster hits another part of the state. we'll also organize them by skill set. we need it on long island, desperately, electricians and we could not find them. we want to have that work done and organized before. thank you, ed. we want to establish a nonprofit network to help coordinate the

emergency response. we want to have a itself campaign to prepare citizens because they are all in home first respondents and every family, every mother, every father should know what should happen if god for bid they are in an emergency situation in their home. superstorm sandy was the largest storm the hit northeast in the recorded history. we need we deserve federal assistance. [applause] first, i want to tell you that i've worked extensively with our delegation and the government in washington for new yorkers,

working the same way the government in albany is working for new yorkers. we're not republicans, we're not democrats, we're not independents, we're new yorkers and we're working together for the good of new york and that is exactly what the delegation is doing. i am so proud of them. i would ask them to stand so we can recognize them. [applause] congressman peter king, congressman maloney. thank you for your service. thank you for your work, thank you for all your efforts. we requested $60 billion in storm aid for new york and new jersey. so far, congress has

appropriated $9 billion. my friends, that is too little and too late. it has nothing to do with the way that congress is acted in the past. this is long been established that in a face of a disaster, the national government comes in to help. why? because it would add insult to injury to say to the damaged area you have to finance your own reconstruction. the area is injured. the federal government comes in, provides reconstruction funds, the area gets back on its feet, it is good for the area the entire country. this is an unprecedented situation in modern times where the federal government has not been responsive in the face of a disaster. and hurricane sandy, after

hurricane katrina is one of the worst disasters in modern political history in this country. look at what they done in the past. san francisco earthquake, they had funding eight days later. hurricane andrew in florida, 30 days later. earthquake in 1994, 26 days later. hurricane itself bale 26 days later. hurricane katrina nine days later. this is day 73 and still

counting, that is not acceptable, my friends. [applause] our message to congress is clear. new york is united deliver the aid we need and deserve, do not play politics with the state of new york. do not bring your political washington gridlock to new york. do not play politics while peel need to be back in their homes and small businesses need money to open their door. remember new york because new york will not forget i promise you. [applause] so in closing, what is the state of the state? the answer is my friends, we have work to do. you look at all the initiatives we laid out today you get a sense. we also have a 300 page book we're going to give you as a going away present to read tonight in case you missed any of it.

the agenda that we lay out today is clearly the most ambition agenda of the three that i've outlined in the state of the states. it was an ambitious government. it is more of a function of the need of the time. we need to do everything we've been doing with the economy, education, etc. we also need to address the plague and scourge of gun violence. we need to address hurricane sandy. so, yes, it is an aggressive agenda. it is a lot of work.

but they elect us to lead, my friends. we will. they elect us to perform and we will. we have proven that we can lead. we have proven that we can perform. we know that with these challenges at hand that is exactly what we must now do. we have daunting challenges. no doubt. but these challenges also pose exciting opportunities. yes, it is hard to reform education. i know the politics of it. i know the problems, i know the issues. but, can you imagine how smart this state would be when we actually educate all our children to the best of the god given potential. whenever black child and every white child and every urban child is educated to their full potential. i know helping the economy is hard. i know it has been decades of decline. can you imagine how successful our economy is going to be when that upstate economic engine is running at full speed and all of our cities are at full gain. i know women is have been treated unfairly for a long time. it know it is cultural. i know it is historic. i know it is difficult.

can you imagine what this society could achieve when our women fully participate as equal partners in everything we do? i know -- i know the issue of gun control is hard. i know it is political. i know it is controversial but we're proposing today common sense measures. i say to you forget the extremists, it is simple. no one hunts with an assault rifle. no one needs 10 bullets to kill a deer. too many innocent people have died already. and the madness now has to get reasonable gun control in the

state of new york. make this state safer. save lives. set an example for the rest of the nation. let them look at new york and say this is what you can do and this is what you should do. this is new york, the progressive capitol. you show them how we lead. [applause] we can do it. we've done it before we can do it again. i know -- i know the sandy reconstruction is going to be hard. i know that we are paid a dear price. i know that families are continuing to pay a price. but i also know we have an

extraordinary opportunity to not just rebuild but to build back better. we can rebuild a better society than we had. we can rebuild thousand miles of roads, we can improve homes, we can get control of utility companies that have been out of control for too long. we can rise back from the ashes and we can be smarter and stronger than ever. we can modernize. i know there is a silver lining to this storm. that is the way that new yorkers came together. in our darkest moment we shine the brightest. in the worst of times, the best

of people came out. there was an outpouring support upstate and downstate, the first responders were heroes, yes. but average citizens showed up one after the other after the other and they were there just because they wanted to help. just because they cared. just because they loved. just because they were new yorkers and they saw other new yorkers in need. they saw the commonality among us. they didn't see the differences, we weren't black and white and rich and poor we were new yorkers. we were united. we were one and there is energy the in that unity. that is new york at its best. that is new york fulfilling its potential. that is new york fulfilling the dream. that is new york the laboratory of the american experiment of democracy. that is new york honoring the lady in the harbor, the statue of liberty who holds the torch

and says you are all invited. i don't care the color of your skin or how much money you have in your pocket. you come here and we will invest in you, work with you, and we want you to do well. we'll either kate you. we'll give you health care because we believe in community. we believe when you are raised we are all raised. that is new york at its finest. so my friends, what is the state of new york state? the state of new york state is that new york state is rising. new york state is rising because it's more unified than ever before. new york state is rising to build back better and stronger than ever before. new york state is rising to build a smarter, stronger state than we ever had before.

new york state is rising with a passion and a commitment to make this state better than it's ever been with a brighter future than it has ever had for your family and my family and new york is rising. with us together as one committed to that vision and making it a reality this year. thank you and god bless you. [applause] , bob macdonald delivers his state of the commonwealth address. education and mental issues. this is just under one hour. [applause] [applause]